Sarah Turner discovers that the latest gadgets could become essential tools for airline staff as well as making life more fun for passengers

The man from Virgin Atlantic looks straight at me. “Welcome, Miss Turner. I see you’re travelling to New York. And you’ve got just one bag to check in.”

Usually only celebrities have this sort of instant recognition - but in this case, it’s the latest technology that’s easing my way through departures.

Like others in Heathrow today, Red, who’s checking me in, is wearing Google Glasses - he doesn’t have to check his computer or tap away at a keyboard.

All the information he needs is in his sightline and he uses it as if he could find out my birthday - although that is not yet possible, thanks to data protection rules.

Meanwhile, his colleague Holly Baker has the Smartwatch 2 from Sony that vibrates to let her know when a passenger is on their way to the Upper Class check-in area.

She’s a fan.

“They’re great - I can tell passengers if there are delays, or what the weather’s like at their destination. Above all, it does away with so much paperwork."

Roy Fisher

Paperwork saver: Sony Smartwatch 2

To one side, Virgin Atlantic’s IT guru Tim Graham, who is responsible for this six-week trial, nods approvingly.

“We’re only trialling this on the ground at the moment but there’s so much that we can use to make flights more comfortable - such as helping cabin crews know what a passenger’s favourite drink is, if they’ve ordered a vegetarian meal or whether they need to leave the plane quickly to make a connection. All that sort of thing.

"When we start flying the Dreamliner 787 in September there will be wifi, which means that we can start seeing how we can use these devices on board.”

And it’s fun. It’s telling that although passengers are given the option of a normal check-in or not, most people opt for a Google glass one (and usually then ask to try them on themselves).

As someone who remembers when the best you could expect was a blurry overhead video screen showing some adonyne family comedy, that you’d have to miss if you got up to go to the toilet, seat back TVs on planes that you can pause are still a delightful innovation, but with the start of wearable technology, it’s about to get even more exciting.

Google Glasses, smart watches and iPads are being eyed up by every airline - but it’s not just to make life more fun for passengers.

“Every time a plane takes off, the pilot has a suitcase full of manuals to lug on board and that’s just one of the bonuses that wearable technology could bring,” Tim explains to me. “If we can make planes lighter, then fuel costs go down and that means we can charge less for flights.”

Right now, I’ll settle for some instant recognition and the world’s grooviest glasses.

Roy Fisher

The future is here: Holly wearing Google Glasses

Airline innovations

With new aircraft, including the Dreamliner, wifi’s becoming common - and more and more airlines, such as Qatar, are including USB charging points in seats.

JetBlue in the US
pioneered in-flight wifi, but now it’s going a bit further with Fly-fi. Standard wifi is free, but pay $9 a hour and you get enough bandwidth for serious gaming or watching Netflix.

Emirates -
download a special app and it’ll tell you the departure gate and how long until boarding, plus weather and destination information.

British Airways -
ipads are becoming standard for use by flight crew and passengers, especially as now you don’t have to switch them off for take off and landing.

Virgin America -
Virgin Atlantic’s no frills airline allows you to order food any time you want using the touch screen of your seatback TV - and buy duty free as well.

Air France -
print your own baggage tag at home. Still being trialled at the moment and only available to people living in France, this could cut long queues at the baggage drop desk.

AirBaltic -
don’t like the standard airline meal? This airline allows you to pick and choose from a choice of over 70 dishes - book 48 hours in advance .

Virgin Australia -
download a special app and passengers can watch onboard movies through their own phone or tablet.